Morning Star
by LightningFuryStrike13
Summary: Sometimes you can't help but become friends with your locker neighbor. Even when you don't want to.


Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of it's characters.

Morning Star

Takes place at the start of Danny's junior year. Phantom Planet didn't happen.

Star sorted her books in her locker according to class while ignoring the tall man doing the same in the locker beside her. Junior year would be hard enough without letting either Paulina or Dash know that her locker was next to Danny Fenton's. At least there was no way Dash would be stuffing Danny into a locker this year. Puberty had finally come for the wiry boy.

Danny now stood quite a few inches taller than her. His shoulders were broad under a slightly too tight t-shirt and tapered down to a waist thick with muscles. The thin white t-shirt and tight light blue jeans hid little. Not that she was looking mind you. At least that's what she'd tell Paulina if the girl ever came by her locker. Unlikely. Star was expected to meet Paulina at her locker. Not the other way around.

She closed her locker and turned without acknowledging the tall man. She was heading to an empty classroom near Paulina's locker to study. First week and already they had a test in pre-cal. She was startled when she got to the classroom to find Danny standing silently behind her. Still ignoring him she took her usual seat in the front and opened her book. Danny continued on to his own seat in the back to do the same.

As the noise outside the classroom increased both students became aware of a shouting match right outside. Seems they weren't the only ones of the loser/A-list variety of locker neighbors. Sam and Paulina were right outside. Star shot Danny a look over her shoulder and locked her grass green eyes with his ice blue ones. He slowly shook his head. She nodded back. Silently they continued to study letting the girls outside scream themselves hoarse.

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"Good morning Star."

She was startled. Apparently his height wasn't the only thing that'd grown during the summer. Danny's broken voice had deepened to a baritone.

She looked up at him but he was reading something in a notebook. "Good morning Danny." She replied just to be polite. If he tried to make it anything more she'd have to shoot him down. She'd worked hard and put up with a lot to be on the A-list. She wasn't going to throw it away just because some loser had gotten hot over the summer.

But he didn't say anything else. He left first this time though he headed towards the same classroom they'd shared the day before. Star followed him and took her seat silently. Again Sam and Paulina started to scream outside the door. Star winced. She was not walking out into that. She didn't have to meet Paulina at her locker. It was just convenient. Perhaps she should find an empty classroom closer to her own locker.

"Mr. Aki leaves his classroom open." She said aloud. She didn't turn to see if Danny was listening.

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"Good morning Star."

"Good morning Danny."

She replied to him automatically. It was only polite. If they could stay polite throughout the next two years she'd be pretty happy. She gathered her books up and at the same time but not quite together they walked the empty hallway to Mr. Aki's classroom to sit and study. Well she studied. It looked like Danny was doing his homework. The noise outside increased gradually but was a dull roar compared to the screaming matches of the last two days. They continued to share the room in peace until the bell rang.

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"Good morning Danny."

"Good morning Star."

They were in Mr. Aki's classroom before she heard Danny speak again. Well less speak more growl. She turned to find him snarling at his paper. She thought she caught the hint of a fang under his lip but then she blinked and it was gone. He glanced up at her and she didn't quite turn around fast enough.

"Hey Star. You're super good in math right?"

She was startled. She didn't know he knew that. She'd been pretty careful not to let anyone know that. The last thing she wanted was to become Dash's tutor or something. "Yes."

"Could you explain this co-sign stuff to me?"

She stood slowly and walked back to him wondering what she'd gotten herself into. She leaned over him and cautiously put a hand on his shoulder. She hoped he wouldn't look anything into this. She was just being polite to a classmate. That's all. She looked over his paper but was somewhat distracted. He was as firm as she'd expected but he was cold. Spending most of her time around Dash and Kwan she knew guys of Danny's size typically radiated heat. Danny was cold. It was odd.

She shook her head ignoring the way her long blonde hair fell across Danny's arm and started explaining the math function to him.

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Star got to her locker first today. She was surprised. Normally Danny beat her here. A few minutes later he came in and opened his locker with a low "Good morning Star."

"Good morning Danny." She turned to look at him and her eyes widened in shock. "What happened?"

His hair was wrecked and his jeans ripped. His shirt was dirty and he looked irritated. "Ghost."

"Ah." Nothing else really needed to be said. Ghost attacks were so common in Amity Park they might have been mosquitoes. "Thank Goodness for Danny Phantom huh?"

"What?" Danny looked startled.

"Well I mean it'd be so much worst if he wasn't here right?"

"You a fan?"

"Generally speaking. My little brother idolizes him. He says when he dies he hopes to come back as a ghost like the Phantom."

"That's…Uh." Danny looked uncomfortable.

"I know. I talked to him about it. Not everyone comes back as a ghost. If they did our parents would have visited by now. That convinced him living was the better idea." Star looked sad and turned around to face her locker.

"I didn't know you'd lost your parents. I'm sorry."

"Car accident. When I was twelve. My brother was seven. We live with my grandparents now." Star said in a rote voice. Answering the usual questions all at once. Preventing anyone from picking at the wound. Protecting herself from seeming to care too much. From showing a weakness to the other A-listers.

Danny reached out and squeezed her shoulder gently but didn't say anything else. They closed their lockers just as Sam came up to them.

"What are you doing?" The Goth Queen looked at Star like she was something disgusting she'd found on the toe of her boot.

Star ignored the Goth and turned to head to her usual morning classroom. She hoped Danny wouldn't bring Sam with him. She heard the Goth going off at him behind her asking what they'd been talking about and why he'd been talking to her in the first place. As Star got out of earshot she wondered if the loser clique was as stressful as the A-list. Maybe they just hid it better.

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"Good morning Star."

"Good morning Danny."

He looked worst this morning than he had the week before. Not just mussed but exhausted.

"You ok? Did a ghost attack you again?"

"Kind of. Something set off the Spector Detector last night and my parents had me up on high alert last night."

She didn't ask what the Spector Detector was. The name seemed somewhat self-explanatory. "And then sent you to school? That doesn't seem fair."

Danny shrugged and unsuccessfully stifled a yawn. They walked to their classroom and Star watched Danny immediately put his head down for a nap before the bell rang.

When he didn't move she walked back to shake his shoulder and was shocked to see a huge bruise through the gap of his shirt at his neck. Her gasp made his head shoot up. "Oh the bell rang. Thanks Star."

"You're welcome." She replied. She hid her concern behind neutral mask. She wasn't really concerned about Danny the Loser was she?

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"Good morning Danny."

"Good morning Star."

Danny looked a little better rested this morning.

They made their way to their classroom. This time before Danny went to his seat he asked her. "Could you glance at my math homework for me?"

"Sure." She accepted the sheet of paper and scanned it. Her help last month had been appreciated and implemented. She marked a few mistakes she noticed and handed the page back to him.

"Thanks." He gave her a slow smile that lit up his eyes.

She could feel herself blush and quickly looked down at her desk trying to hide her sudden nervousness by opening her books. "You're welcome." She said in a shy voice despite her best efforts to sound normal.

She felt Danny head back to his own desk and sighed.

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"Good morning Star."

"Good morning Danny."

She looked over and stopped to stare in horror. "Who on Earth tied that bandage on you?"

Danny glanced down at his arm. He'd lost the sleeves to yet another shirt this morning and had used the scraps to tie up the bleeding wound on his arm. "Uh.. I did?"

Star rolled her eyes. "Come on." She closed her locker and waited impatiently for Danny to stuff his things into his backpack before following her. She led him to the nurse's office in a back hallway where the lights hadn't been turned on yet.

She glanced at him to see his eyes scanning the hallway. Probably alert to ghosts. They did like this hallway. She pulled a ring of keys out and unlocked the nurse's office.

"You have a key to the nurse's office?"

"Yeah." She wasn't going to explain all the reasons for that especially since the biggest one had to do with her increasingly painful periods. She walked around to retrieve some bandages and antiseptic. "Sit down." She pulled some bandage scissors out of a drawer and cleanly snipped through the dirty cotton strips wrapped too tight and haphazardly around Danny's upper arm. She cleaned the shallow wound, treated it with antiseptic and then carefully and correctly bandaged it. She grabbed a length of ace bandage to wrap around it as well. She thought about grabbing pink but grabbed the light blue instead. It matched Danny's eyes and she was not thinking about that right now.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Ghost again?"

"Yeah. Skulker."

"That big metal one with the guns?"

"That's the one."

"You should really leave the big ones like that for the Phantom."

"I did once he showed up."

"Be more careful next time."

"I'll try."

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"Good morning Star."

"Good morning Danny."

She looked over. While today's t-shirt had sleeves they shouldn't be long enough to cover her bandage from yesterday.

"Where's your bandage?" Star turned to him and put her hands on her hips. She hoped she sounded enough like her mother that Danny would answer her question without a fight.

"Uh…I took it off when I showered."

"And didn't rebandage it?"

"Well it's healed now. No big deal."

"Healed? It can't be healed already that would have taken…" She reached over and pulled the sleeve up to find smooth, firm and completely unblemished skin. "…weeks."

She looked up at him to find him frowning as he stared into his locker.

"Danny? How'd you-?"

"There was an accident in my parent's lab. I heal fast."

"That's amazing. Can they recreate it?"

"They don't know about it."

"What? Why not? Do you know what this could mean to the healthcare community?"

"There's no way to safely reproduce it. I was hospitalized for a week. To my knowledge only one other person has survived and he was hospitalized for years afterwards. It's not worth it."

"Oh."

Danny finished gathering his books and she did the same. They walked to their classroom and didn't talk the rest of the time. Still Star wondered how often Danny was injured and ignored it due to his healing ability. What kind of accident was it? Only two survivors? Who else had experienced this?

It wasn't like she could ask him. They weren't friends. He was a loser. She was an A-lister. Talking every morning was already risking her reputation.

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"Good morning Danny."

"Good morning Venus."

"What?"

"Venus is the Morning Star." Danny shot her a smile before chuckling. "Sorry. I saw her this morning and thought about how we say Good Morning. Morning Star. Venus." He shrugged.

She gave him a smile. "It's okay. I like it. There are worst things to be called than the Goddess of Beauty."

"Oh. I didn't. I mean. I wasn't trying to come on to you. I didn't think of that. Not that you aren't."

"I get it Danny." She generously let him off the hook.

Danny sighed as if aware of how stupid he sounded stammering like that.

Star smiled at him taking the sting out of it somewhat. He smiled back. Cute but clueless. She thought as she led them to their classroom.

They exchanged math and science papers to review. She was having some trouble with Chemistry while he continued to slog through Geometry.

When they heard Sam and Tucker outside looking for Danny she ignored them as a matter of course but she was surprised when Danny didn't call out to them.

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"Good morning Venus." There was a tight edge to his voice.

"Good morning Danny." She looked over to find him moving slowly and painfully.

"Danny are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You're clearly not."

"I got attacked by a ghost last night and I'm not quite healed yet."

Star rolled her eyes. "Just cause you heal faster doesn't mean you don't have to take care of yourself." She closed her locker and shot him a glare. "Follow me."

"You don't have to."

"Yes I do. Just because I haven't taken the oath yet doesn't mean I can just not help you. Besides this is good practice for me."

"You planning on becoming a doctor?"

"Kind of. I plan to get my doctorate in Nursing."

"That's a thing?"

"Yup." She unlocked the nurse's office again and ushered Danny inside. "What's hurt?"

"My side and my…"

"And?" She gave him a look.

"My leg." Danny winced.

"What did you run into?"

"Johnny 13 and Kitty were out for a joyride. Johnny's bad luck kicked in on me and he hit me with his motorcycle."

Star wasn't sure on the names until he mentioned the motorcycle. She'd seen that ghost around before. "Take off your shirt."

Danny did so with a groan. It was clear that the action put him in quite a bit of pain and even as Star turned around from getting her supplies out she noticed the Danny was now bleeding through the bandages around his torso.

She winced but quickly and quietly went about it. "You should tell your parents to take you to a real doctor." This wasn't the second time she'd noticed something off and had dragged him into the nurse's office.

"No." There was something in his voice that made her afraid to look at his face. A finality that she didn't question.

The one on his side didn't look deep but the amount of blood suggested something was hurt inside. When she mentioned as much Danny winced before answering.

"Yeah I might have punctured a lung or something. I coughed up blood and had some trouble breathing afterward."

Star looked horrified.

"Don't worry. The worst stuff always heals first. I'm fine now."

Star closed her eyes and grit her teeth before letting out a closed mouth scream. She retrieved a stethoscope from a drawer and held it to Danny's chest commanding him to breathe deeply.

There was no rattling, no sucking, nothing to indicate a problem with Danny's lungs which was a relief but with the stethoscope to his chest Star also noticed a curious lack of something. The beat of Danny's heart. Oh it was there. It was steady but it was beating less than once every few seconds. She looked at the clock on the wall and silently counted. Twenty-two beats a minute. That was insane. Only some of the fittest individuals in the world had a heartbeats that slow. She stood up from where she was listening to the slow beat of Danny's heart. It was almost soothing in a very creepy way.

She looked him over in a way she'd been somewhat avoiding for a while now preferring to concentrate on only the injury instead of the person. The exact opposite mentality she needed as a nurse. Okay yes Danny had hit puberty finally. He'd gotten taller and broader and his voice had deepened but under that thin t-shirt he was fit. Very fit. Sculpted arms. Hard pecs. His belly was firm and rippled. Not quite a six pack because he'd built himself for strength rather than looks but he even had a bit of an Adonis belt and she was trying very hard to not let the sight of him make her head go stupid. Okay. Danny was a very fit, very healthy individual. There's nothing creepy about him having an insanely low bpm.

"Something wrong?" Danny asked. He looked concerned for her.

"No. Your lungs sound fine. Your heart does too. It's really slow."

"That's good?"

"It means your heart is strong enough that it doesn't need to work as hard. It's twenty-two bpm. That's close to some of the lowest heart rates on record if I'm remembering right."

"Then why do you look like something's wrong?"

"Well, normally you see heart rates like that in Olympians."

"Oh."

"But you are very fit. So it's not that weird."

"Okay." Danny nodded. He still looked concerned. Star was staring at his chest with a very worried expression.

She shook her head and moved forward to finish wrapping his torso.

"Now your leg."

"It's fine."

"Danny." Now it was Star's turn to pin him with a word.

"Is the door locked?"

Star frowned.

"If someone comes in, and sees you in front of me, with my pants down…" Danny blushed and looked away from her to the wall.

Star's eyes widened and she quickly went over to lock the door then wedge a chair under the knob just in case. Danny had a very good point. Although they were coming up on the end of November no one in the school knew about their burgeoning friendship. Yes she was willing to tentatively call it a friendship. They talked every morning, helped each other with their homework, they even talked online sometimes. Being caught in such a compromising position with any boy would be bad but Danny Fenton? Her reputation would be ruined. Even though she wondered more and more every day why Danny was considered a loser.

Danny was tall, built, friendly, funny, intelligent, and handsome. He had a great voice, dressed normally, and was legitimately one of the nicest guys in the school. On the surface there was no reason why he shouldn't be popular if not an A-lister except for the fact that he didn't play a sport. Except it was odd he didn't play a sport considering how athletic he was. And he got more ghost related injuries than anyone she knew. And his parents were certifiably insane. Oh and his friends were creeps. She sighed.

"Okay. Now." She gave his jeans a meaningful glance.

He gently eased to his feet before unbuckling and lowering his jeans to his knees. Their ripped state had already shown her the wound wasn't on his calf or she'd have just had him roll his pants up.

She winced. "Did he hit you or run over you?" She stepped forward and pushed Danny to lay back, lifting his legs on to the bed. The wound was about as wide as a motorcycle tire. Parallel lines tracing diagonally down from his hip and thigh joint to his inner thigh. Danny had clearly had no idea how to dress the wound in such an awkward place. There was some wraps that looked like the remains of a t-shirt held together with a pair of underwear that had been cut up and modified to hold the fabric in place. Over this Danny had been wearing boxers but he'd lowered those with his pants. Fortunately he was wearing another pair of underwear under all of that or Star would have been completely unable to keep her cool.

She began dismantling his hackney bandage job with a pair of scissors. She forced him to completely remove his jeans as she tested his leg's range of motion to make sure the bone and joint were okay.

"This happened last night?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know where I live?"

"Uh, no."

"3930 Goshawk Lane."

"Okay?"

"If you won't go to the hospital, or a clinic, or your parents then can you at least come see me first? So I don't have to deal with your pathetic efforts at bandages the next morning." Star held on to her irritation. It was what she was using to keep her focus off the outline of Danny through his underwear.

"Uh sure. I can do that."

"Thank you."

"Do you have medical equipment at home?"

"My mom was a nurse. I still have her things." Star said quietly. She made a note to pick up some fresher supplies though. She'd been replacing the nurse's things to avoid any questions about missing supplies anyway.

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"Good morning Mercury."

"Good morning Danny?"

"Mercury is the morning star now. Still fits. Mercury was a really smart god." Danny smiled at her. She was gratified to note it was pain-free. Danny had been by to see her in the evening three times since their talk in the nurse's office.

"And my favorite Sailor Scout." Star admitted.

"Sailor Scout?"

"The Japanese anime Sailor Moon?"

"Oh yeah. I remember that it came on right before DragonballZ. Jazz watched it." Danny quickly looked back at his books.

Star figured Danny had watched it too but if he wasn't going to call her on liking Sailor Mercury she wasn't going to call him on watching a girl show. She reflected that sometimes her friendship with Danny was the healthiest one she had at school. They were both so relaxed with each other, so non-judgmental. Sometimes she needed that. Needed to have someone she could talk to who she didn't have to be a sycophant for. Sometimes she thought Danny needed that too.

She waited until they were safely in the classroom before bringing up her request. "I'd like you to come by this weekend. At night and uninjured."

"Okay?"

"I really should have done this months ago but I'd like to get a baseline. BPM, blood pressure, temperature, height, weight, etc."

"Uh okay. For practice?"

"Yes but it'll also help me to know when I'm over my head when caring for you."

"If I'm ever so bad that you think you can't help me there's a number marked emergencies only in my phone. Call that."

"Okay?" Star opened her book but didn't start to read the page.

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"Mornin' Merc."

"Good morning Danny."

Star turned concerned eyes towards Danny's abbreviated greeting. He held his shoulders like he was hurt and there was a tight expression on his face.

"Danny?"

"Dad was testing a new ectogun this morning."

"And what? He shot you?"

"It was an accident."

Star looked horrified. She grabbed her books and her first aid kit and pulled Danny into their classroom. She locked the door and pulled the shade.

"Where?"

"My back." Danny grimaced as he tried to raise his arms.

Star quickly moved to help him and it was only with a great deal of difficulty they pulled the shirt from his body. Star gasped and bit her lip. This was the worst wound she'd ever seen on Danny and that was saying something as she'd been tempted to call the emergency number twice last week. She was used to seeing Danny after he'd had several hours to heal. The fresh wounds made her question what she'd gotten herself into.

This wound was the worst though. It was circular and looked like a burn on the surface. Maybe seven inches in diameter and centered right between his shoulder blades. It was green along the edges and black in the center. There appeared to be puss building up too. Her hand trembled as she reached out to it. "Oh Danny."

"Can you do anything?"

"Umm I think I need to know more. What kind of gun was it? What was it supposed to do? WHY DIDN"T YOUR PARENTS RUSH YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?" Star took a deep breath grateful that she'd yelled between her grit teeth and trying very hard to keep the hysterical note out of her voice. She knew what Danny's response would be to anything connecting his parent's and medical services. "It looks like a burn."

"I think Dad said it was meant to burn ghosts like Greek Fire?"

"Okay. Greek Fire was vacuous. It clung to surfaces and burned them so I think…I think I'll need to scrap that off before it'll begin to heal." Star was glad Danny was facing away from her because she was unable to hide the horrified look on her face at the thought.

"Do we have time for that?"

"Does it tingle like it's digging deeper?"

"Yeah."

"Then I don't think we have a choice." Star opened her bag and retrieved a clean scalpel and a pan that she'd typically use for dirty bandages. "I'm going to cut it open, then scrap it off."

"Okay."

"Do you need anything for the pain?"

"No."

"Of course not." Danny never took anything for the pain. She wasn't sure if it was because he was trying to look tough, if his pain tolerance was insanely high, or if his healing gift meant the drugs wouldn't work. Star took a deep breath and then stepped forward to slice open the pustule in the center. It immediately began to drain black and green into the pan and she saw Danny subtly relax.

"Already feels better."

"That was the easy part." Star began making careful incisions and peeling off the blackened parts with her fingers. Very thankful she was wearing gloves the pan was soon filled with pus and blackened pieces of skin. She may have started crying at some point but she just blinked the tears away. Through it all Danny was silent and stoic. Only the occasional tightening of his fists showed how much pain he was in.

Finally Star was left with a large shiny circle of slightly bloody but nonetheless clean skin. Even as she watched it stopped bleeding and the reddened skin began to heal. She threw the whole pan in the trash along with her gloves. The scalpel was placed back in her case after she wiped it off. She'd sterilize it later at home or in the chemistry lab.

The bell rang just as Danny stood up and grabbed his shirt.

"Wait. Just let me." Star quickly jumped forward to gently cover the spot in burn ointment. If she had her way Danny would have spent the rest of the day shirtless but she could only imagine how well that'd go over. No it wasn't because he was man-candy either. She didn't want his shirt irritating the wound. Well that too.

"Thank you Star." Danny gave her every opportunity to back away before stepping forward to hug her. "I don't know how I'd have gotten through today without you. Well slowly and in a great deal of pain but you…Thank you. You're gonna make a phenomenal nurse."

Star accepted the hug with a small smile letting her head fall over his slow, strong heart and being careful where her hands went on his back. "You're welcome and thank you."

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"Good morning Danny."

"Good morning Mercury."

Danny turned to face the cringing girl and for once it was his turned to ask. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Is that an 'I'm fine' like when I say I'm fine. Cause you look like how I feel when I say I feel fine."

Star tried to laugh but grabbed her hip and whimpered instead. "Yeah. That."

"What's wrong?" Danny felt like he was hovering over her a bit. All thumbs were as she was so efficient at helping him.

She rolled her eyes. Well time to send Danny running. "I'm on my period. I'm cramping really really badly." She gasped lowly letting out a little whimper at the feeling of her insides being twisted and clamped.

"I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do? Anything you need?"

Well at least he didn't go running. Star put her books in her bag for once. She rarely carried the bag but there was too great a chance the cramps would make her double over for her to be able to carry her books today. A cute, stylish messenger bag was the way to go. Star gave him a tight smile but there wasn't anything…wait maybe.

"There is one thing." Star walked to their classroom.

Danny followed closely looking worried.

Star locked the door and pulled the shade. She put her bag down and pulled Danny over to sit in the teacher's chair before sitting in his lap and pulling her shirt up. She tucked the bottom in her bra band and tug her pants down ever so slightly.

Danny sat very still. On one hand he didn't want to hurt her. On the other he had no idea what she had in mind but right now he liked where this was going and was loath to stop her.

"I want you to put your hands here and here." Star caressed the skin below her belly button just above her pants and the same general area on her back. "Don't squeeze me or anything just rest your hands there. My dad used to do this for my mom."

Danny nodded and quickly put his hands where she indicated. His hand spread out on her back while he gently cupped the softly rounded area in the front.

Star gasped when he touched her and Danny froze afraid he'd made it worst.

"Oh I forgot how cold you are." She sighed in relief slowly relaxing as the pain eased. "But it's working. It's working." She slumped against his chest. Her face eased and she smiled ever so slightly as she felt the pain ease more and more. She hadn't realized how tightly she'd been holding her whole body in pain until her face relaxed as minute relief spread from Danny's hand across her body. She dozed against Danny's chest with his steady heartbeat in her ear. It was so soothing. His cold hands gave her such relief. She'd never tried cold compresses before. She'd been anticipating Danny's hands being as warm as her father or grandfather. Or Kwan or Dash. Not that'd she'd ever have trusted the football players enough to do this to her. To not take advantage even if her period hadn't scared them off.

When the bell rang she jumped.

"You dozed off. Guess you didn't get much sleep last night."

"No. The pain was too bad."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I've never tried cold compresses before. You helped a lot." Star eased up from Danny's lap and pulled her shirt down. She winced as the pain began to grow again. Danny quickly slipped his hands under her shirt and pressed them against her again. The relief was immediate. "Mmmm. Can you just follow me around all day and do that?"

"I wish I could."

Star took a deep breath and grabbed her bag. "Sorry you didn't get to study."

"I'd rather have helped you."

"That's the way I feel too." They held each other's eyes for a minute before an increase in noise outside had them leaving the room. Separately.

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"Good evening Venus."

"Good evening Danny."

Star watched with wide eyes as Danny climbed through her bedroom window. Luckily her grandparent's medicines meant they could have slept through an earthquake. Her brother's suite was on the other side of the house.

She took in his injuries with critical eyes and more than a few suspicions she'd held for a while locked into place.

In the bathroom she quickly assessed anything that needed immediate attention before having Danny take a shower. As usual he was filthy from the ghost attack.

She picked up her notebook from just an hour or so before when she'd been watching the news with her grandparents. The breaking story of the Phantom fighting a strong ghost that kept exploding into lots of smaller ghosts before reforming. It's taken the Phantom a long time to get all the different parts. Long enough for the news van and the Fentons to arrive. She'd written down all the visible injuries on the Phantom and then all the ones he'd gotten while she'd watched.

Now she wrote down all the ones she'd noticed on Danny in another column. As she noted things in the file she kept on Danny she looked at the worrisome baseline numbers she'd taken. His eighty-five degree temperature. His fifty twenty-five blood pressure. His resting pulse of only fifteen. Danny didn't tend to lose a lot of blood when he was injured. After taking his vitals Star was no longer surprised by this.

As Danny came out of the bathroom wrapped only in a towel. Star turned to face him with a small smile. He sat on her bed and let her go over him again. Stitching and bandaging as needed until she was satisfied.

Finally she sat down next to him on the bed and handed him her notes. She watched him tense up before he raised those pretty blue eyes up to meet her green ones. Then with a low flash suddenly his eyes matched her own. Except she didn't think hers had ever glowed with that supernatural light.

She swallowed and kept her head although barely. "I'm going to need to get a new baseline when you're not injured."

Danny laughed.

"Tell me everything?"

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"Good evening Venus."

"Good evening Danny."

Star didn't have to worry about her grandfather noticing the trellises outside her window being damaged by a climbing boy anymore. Danny flew in intangible and invisible. For once he wasn't even injured.

She had her books spread out across the small table in her suite. They were going to spend the night reviewing for a history test among other homework. She wondered why he chose to study with her instead of Sam and Tucker. Not that she was complaining as the handsome man unpacked his book bag. He'd been fighting ghosts before he got here. She noticed a partially filled thermos in his bag.

"Are you injured?"

"Nah. Just little annoyances this time. I basically just ordered them into the thermos." Danny smirked a bit smugly and she could see his fangs as his eyes glowed green for a few seconds before cooling to blue again.

"So the instructions from Vlad are working?"

"Yeah. It's still kind of weird. I mean declaring my territory? It sounds so primitive. I can't deny that it works though. The threat of having to fight me was a thing lots of ghosts felt they could defy if only to mess with me. Invading my territory though is as respected as real world political boundary."

"Does that make you King of our little town?"

"In ghost terms yeah…" He trailed off with a bit of a wince.

"Danny?"

"Technically my territory is centered on Amity Park but actually extends past Oregon and North into Canada. It's based on my power level. I'm not 100% sure where the edges are cause they're wavy and change constantly. Vlad says it's like a splatter of paint on the map. That's just the way ghost boundaries tend to be though. His territory is huge. Most of the Northcentral and Northeastern US and parts of Canada. The South is ruled mostly by the ghost of this Voodoo Queen named Marie Laveau."

"Wow. I didn't think it was that political."

"It's not really. Not like it is in the real world. Most ghosts just want their own haunt just like anyone else. The ghost world is as vast as the human world. After I declared my territory I was able to grant haunts to other ghosts. Some of the more peaceful ones you'll probably still see around Amity."

"Well I'm glad I live in the part ruled by such a kind and noble king."

"Ha."

They studied for a couple of hours before Danny's stomach declared a break.

Star laughed. "I bought the stuff to make steak quesadillas. Let's make dinner then we can finish up."

"It's so weird to me that you have your own kitchen." Danny commented again as he washed his hands to help.

"My grandparents think its good practice and keeps me out of their chef's hair. When they're here we mostly eat together."

"Where are they right now?"

"On a cruise."

"And your brother?"

"Playing video games. I spent some time with him when I first got home. He's knows I'm just studying in case you're worried he's gonna burst in on us?"

"As a little brother myself that's exactly what I'm worried about. I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Offer to let him meet the Phantom and I promise he'll never say a word." Star teased. She started cutting up the vegetables as Danny opened the steak package and starting sharpening his own knife.

Danny rolled his eyes.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why are you…? I mean why aren't you…? Ugh how to say this?"

Danny raised his eyebrows. His face open and calm.

"Tucker and Sam. I know you guys are still friends. You hang out at school all the time. Why aren't you studying with them instead of with me? Don't get me wrong. I like having you here. I've just been wondering."

Danny frowned down at the steak tips he was cutting up. "Oh well. After freshman year when report cards came out Sam and Tucker's parents hit the roof. Locked them down with curfews among a bunch of other rules regarding the threat of Catholic girl's school and boot camps. I, of course, was seen as a bad influence. I'm pretty much banned from both their houses."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"How'd your own parents react?"

"Well….Jazz has been signing my report cards for years now. So she got to it first and she knew why my grades were so abysmal. Namely because I was going without sleep and food most days just to keep up with the ghosts. Studying was a long forgotten memory. So instead of jumping all over me she gave me an ultimatum. Go to Vlad and get training or she'd show Mom and Dad my report card. Both options would result in the same thing. If I left or got locked up the ghosts would run rampant but if I agreed to go to Vlad Jazz would break our ghost zone portal and keep sabotaging it all summer long while she distracted our parents with her college prep plans."

"So you went to Vlad?"

"Yup. Good thing too. He was pretty much horrified at the condition I was in. Called an immediate truce that's lasted the last two years."

"Your condition?" Star looked concerned.

"Even on the days I did make it to my bed I was usually too wound up to sleep and if I got to eat more than one meal a day it was a good day. You have to understand. Food at our house has always been a bit haphazard anyway. You remember how skinny I was. Well there towards the end of the year it got progressively worst. I weighted eighty-nine pounds. Just skin and bones. The initial blast of ectoplasm had stunted my growth or it may have even been worst but none of that was getting treated the way it was supposed to."

"Danny!" Star very carefully laid the knife to the side. "Maybe we should continue this story after we're done cooking."

"Yeah. Don't want you to hurt those pretty little hands." Danny smirked at her, flashing his fangs.

She wondered if he knew how much she liked seeing them.

After they'd sat down at the table with several cheesy steak quesadillas and glasses of root beer she prompted him to continue. "So you show up at Vlad's clinically exhausted and seriously malnourished."

"Yup and after talking Vlad into not rushing off to murder my dad we called a truce. He gave me a full halfa checkup as only someone who'd been a halfa for twenty some years could. He gave me protein shakes and growth hormones and made me eat like five times a day. For the first two weeks he just let me lay around his mansion doing nothing. Mostly I slept. That first week he even let me miss meals if I was asleep. I slept for fifteen to twenty hours at a time. Wake up, eat, go back to bed. When I felt up to it I'd roam around his stupidly huge castle. I fell asleep all over the place. Couches, bathtubs, trampolines. Vlad can lock on to my ghost signature and find me anywhere so most of the time he just let me sleep where I lay if I looked comfortable. I'd wake up with blankets and pillows wherever it was I'd found to curl up."

"Good." Star tried remembering the way Danny locked at the end of freshman year versus the beginning of sophomore. She remembered a thin, tired looking boy then a still thin but at least brighter eyed looking young man. That was also around the time the Phantom had stopped showing up as much. After not having been seen for two months he was suddenly back but only rarely even though the rate of ghost appearances picked right back up. She remembered the Phantom's absence because Paulina had nearly driven her crazy during that time.

"Then he finally started training me. Insisting that we start with the basics. It was so frustrating. I wanted to learn teleporting and duplication and he's like 'let's make sure you can hit the bull's eye with your ectoblasts first'." Danny groaned and rolled his eyes.

Star laughed at the face he made.

"By the time summer was over I was at least back to a healthy weight and well rested. Most importantly he taught me how to make a single, stable, low-powered duplicate. This was so important cause I could leave this duplicate at school or home while I went off to fight someone without having to worry about missing class, missing curfew or not doing my chores. All of which resulted in detention or grounding or more chores that left me even less time to recover between ghost fights."

Star frowned and looked at him with sad eyes.

Danny was startled as he held her gaze.

"Danny? Who patched you up before me?"

"Jazz until she went off to college. Sam and Tucker until their parents got involved."

"So all of last year you were alone."

Danny raised his eyebrows in understanding. "Ah yeah. For the most part. Vlad comes by at least once a week to check on me. He also taught me to identify and gauge a ghost's signature and strength. If they were weak I was under strict orders to leave it to my mom and dad and the Guys in White. It wasn't easy. Especially since both teams were at best ineffective and at worst made matters so much more terrible. Then I'd show up and boom three enemies to take care of instead of one. That plan kind of backfired on Jazz and Vlad. The Red Huntress is pretty effective but she hates me so much that if she caught wind of my location she'd abandon any ghost she was chasing to chase me instead."

Star winced. "I don't get the other ghost hunters. I mean you are so obviously a hero. A good guy. Why do they try to catch you?"

"Well for my parents it's a case of 'all ghosts are evil'. Jazz once compared it to Ku Klux Klan members only ghosts are their black people. She's also kind of the one who changed Vlad's obsession. He wanted me to tell my mom about my ghost half. Jazz pointed out that if Mom and Dad were racist fundamentalists I wouldn't be telling them about my gay black lover either. It finally drove home to Vlad that Mom would never accept us. So he's shifted his obsession to me."

"Obsession?"

"Yeah. All ghosts have one. Like Skulker's is being the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter. Ember's is never being forgotten. The Box Ghost's is to be the most annoying ghost in existence….okay it's to make boxes scary but you get the idea. Even though Vlad and I are only half-ghosts we still have obsessions. Vlad knows he wasn't as obsessed with my Mom before the blast. Sure he had a crush on her and he was jealous of my dad but not to the lengths he eventually ended up going to. Now he's obsessed with being my dad. It's taken time but I'm okay with letting him. He certainly takes better care of me."

"What's your obsession?"

"Protecting people."

"So leaving the fighting to other people is tough huh?"

"Yeah. I couldn't establish my territory until this summer either. In ghost terms I'm only a few years old. Sure I'm a lot stronger than a normal ghost because my human half reinforces me but I still need time for my ghost core to mature and stabilize. It's why Vlad won't teach me teleportation yet either."

"Hmmm…" Star chewed silently while she thought. She had a puzzled look on her face before finally swallowing. "I have so many different questions now I'm not sure which one to lead with."

Danny grinned showing off all of his fangs.

Star couldn't help but stare at them and blush a bit to her embarrassment. She was now pretty sure Danny knew exactly how much she liked his fangs. When it was just the two of them he was always flashing them at her even though she knew he was perfectly capable of keeping them concealed if he wanted.

"Maybe we should get back to studying. You can ask me more questions later."

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"Good morning Star."

The mound of blankets on the bed let out a small whimper that might have been "Good morning Danny."

Danny had been concerned to not see Star at school. Soon it became apparent that it wasn't just Star who was missing. Most of the school went to Nasty Burger during the weekend and had paid for it big time. Food poisoning was rampant throughout the school even hitting some of the teachers. Once roll was called and it was discovered 80% of the kids weren't even there school was canceled for the day.

Danny had been at a Packers game with Vlad this past weekend in Wisconsin and his overbearing pseudo-dad had sent him home with his usual extensive care package so Danny was one of few unaffected. Once school was out Danny wasted no time in heading straight to Star's house.

A quick invisible and intangible pass through the house showed that it was empty. The younger schoolchildren hadn't been as affected it seemed and Star's grandparents were at work. Leaving Star to take care of herself.

A normal person wouldn't have thought that was alright but Danny simply could not remember ever having a parent take care of him when he was sick. It'd always been Jazz and him. He lightly landed in Star's suite and opened the fridge to put away the ginger ale and Gatorade he'd gotten her. He put crackers, chicken broth, ginger tea, and pack of probiotics on the counter among other things he'd bought.

He knelt by her bed after pulling the curtains closed. "Hey Star. How ya doing?" He slowly pulled the blankets down so he could see her face.

Her normal bright happy face was pale and wan. Her breath could have curdled milk with the acidic smell of vomit. Her hair was lank and damp with sweat and something else it seemed. "How do you think I feel?"

"Half-dead?" He gave her a fangy smile.

She groaned. He laid a cold hand on her forehead and over her eyes and she sighed in relief.

"I got you a few things. I'm assuming food is probably not on the menu yet but I have Gatorade and ginger ale. Jazz always mixed probiotics into my Gatorade when I was sick to my stomach so I got some of those too. If you want something hot I got ginger tea too. Of course there's always water."

Star looked at him with grateful eyes. "Some Gatorade please?"

"You got it." He stood taking away his cold hand and she whimpered. He made a duplicate to fetch the drink and sat back down next to her bed to put his hand back over her eyes. "Need me to put my hand anywhere else?"

She weakly reached out to pull his hand under her blankets and tucked his fist against her diaphragm with a sigh.

He carefully moved until he could flatten his hand out against her being extra careful not to brush against her soft breasts even though he could feel that they were bare against his knuckles when she'd hugged his hand. He reminded himself that Star was very sick and that even if she wasn't she wouldn't appreciate his hands anywhere but where she put them.

His duplicate returned with a bottle of Gatorade and a straw. He held it to her lips to allow her to gently sip the fluid and electrolyte replacer.

"You know how in hospitals they give you the fluid bags right? All that's in those bags is Gatorade. Not literally of course but its same concept." Star said.

"I didn't know that. I've never been hospitalized."

Star twisted her mouth and Danny could feel her brows furrow under his hand.

Danny chuckled. "Hey before I became the Phantom I didn't get hurt nearly as much."

"They call them banana bags."

"Really?"

"Yeah. My mom told me. She worked in the hospitals."

Danny felt and heard an uneasy rumble under his hand right before Star flung back the covers and ran for the bathroom.

Danny followed quickly and held her hair back while she vomited. He wasn't totally in time and some of the long blonde hair was slimy already. Nonetheless he stood there one hand in her hair the other under her shoulder to keep her from falling.

"Oh God." She moaned before yanking down her pants and turning to sit on the toilet as well.

Danny grabbed the waste basket to hold in front of her as well. Good thing to as the next volley produced ejections from both ends and Star started to cry.

"Oh God. I don't want you to see me like this."

"Star you've literally stitched up every inch of me. Cleaned me up when I've been covered in blood and ectoplasm and everything in-between. Don't be embarrassed. Let me take care of you." Danny said gently as he rubbed her back while continuing to keep her hair back.

Finally her body seemed to be done betraying her for the moment. She'd leaned over her knees laying her stomach flat against her thighs and panted.

"How about you sit in the shower for a few minutes while I clean up and change the sheets on your bed? Rinse your mouth out, brush your teeth and when I come back I'll wash your hair."

Star smiled weakly at him before nodding.

Danny stood and got the shower going before helping her remove her shirt, test the water and then finally to sit down in the shower letting the modern marvel of an indoor waterfall cool and clean her body.

Star watched his form disappear through the blur of the shower door and chuckled lightly. How strange was it that she probably trusted Danny Fenton more than anyone else in the world short of her grandmother.

While the shower helped Star sat right back down on the toilet after Danny helped her out. Fortunately he'd braided her wet hair back away from her face which she didn't question remembering his sister's long hair and that she'd probably taught Danny to braid.

Crawling back into a clean bed did make her feel better. She smiled this was why she wanted to be a nurse. As bad as she felt right now things like a clean bed, a clean body, her hair braided, someone to hold the bottle of Gatorade to her lips made her feel so much less miserable. They were little things but they made her feel so much more at ease. She smiled at Danny who returned to lay his hand on her head.

"Try to drink as much as you can okay?"

She nodded sleepily. The shower, the clean bed, the cool drink and cooler hand were all conspiring to send her to sleep. Considering she'd been mostly dozing in misery this was the best thing for her at the moment. She sipped as much of the sports drink as she could before closing her eyes.

She opened her eyes to see Danny sitting at her kitchen table working on some kind of school work she assumed.

"Good evening? Danny."

Danny smiled. "Good afternoon Star. How ya feeling?"

Star sat up with a smile only to immediately give him a distressed look and dash for the bathroom again. He followed but she waved him off. Having him watch her sit on the toilet earlier that day had been more than enough. She didn't feel like vomiting just pooping and she could do without the concerned audience. He put the trash can in front of her anyway before backing out.

She could still see his shadow by the door though and it made her feel awkward.

"Gatorade, ginger ale, ginger tea, or I have some chicken broth and crackers?"

"Ummm….ginger tea and if I can keep that down maybe we can try the broth?"

"You got it." Then he almost not quite closed the door and walked away.

She sighed gratefully and relaxed into doing what her body needed at the moment. Her tummy hurt and she felt weak. She could only imagine how much worst she'd feel if Danny hadn't been there to take care of her.

Later that evening she was curled against Danny's cool body with a blanket over her legs while they watched Pawn Stars on the History channel. She was eating crackers slowly and sipping on a glass of ginger ale when they heard a knock on her door.

"Star sweetie are you in there?" Her grandmother's voice came through the door.

Danny disappeared but Star could still feel him sitting next to her.

"Yes Grandma."

The door opened. "How are you dear? I heard at the store that school was canceled due to a rash of food poisoning from that fast food restaurant you kids like so much." She looked over the bottles of Gatorade and cans of ginger ale. There was also still a subtle odor of sickness in the room. It was warm outside but cold in the room so the windows hadn't been opened.

"I'm feeling better now." Star sat up and saw the couch cushions which had been depressed under Danny's weight spring back as her Grandmother walk around to sit next to her. She hadn't felt him move so she assumed he'd become intangible. Never the less she winced when her grandmother sat down where Danny was…had been?

"My goodness it's chilly in here." Her Grandma put a smooth hand to her forehead. "No fever at least. At the store they said several people had been hospitalized. You hadn't called me to come home from work though so I thought maybe you hadn't been affected."

"No I have it. I was pretty miserable this morning."

"Why didn't you call me?" Her grandmother looked around room. "Did a friend come over and take care of you?"

"Yeah. Came straight from school after stopping at the store."

"Who was it? Paulina?"

"Uh no." Star blushed.

"Star Knight did you have a boy up here?"

"Grandma I-." Star's eyes widened before she jumped up and ran to the bathroom. She groaned in relief as she made it in time wincing as her bowels twisted in pain. She looked up to where her Grandma had followed her.

"I'm super sexy right now." She said sarcastically.

Her grandmother chuckled but had a worried look on her face still.

"Yeah my boy friend came over to take care of me. Nothing happened. He cleaned me up, and made sure I had plenty of fluids. I slept most of the day though."

"What did he do while you were asleep?"

"Studied mainly." Star finished up and stood to wash her hands before moving over to the kitchen area. Danny's backpack had disappeared as well. She wondered if he was still here or not.

"Was it Kwan?"

"No…"

"Who was it?"

"Uh well…" Suddenly Star felt all the ridiculousness of the division between the A-list and the losers. "It was Danny Fenton."

"Danny Fenton? Is he related to those ghost hunters?"

"Their son."

"Well. I don't know if I've ever met him."

"No you haven't."

"Is he part of your cliché at school?"

"Kind of the opposite."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Our lockers are right next to each other. We became friends over the last year."

"Well clearly he's a nice boy if he came to take care of you."

"He is seriously one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet."

"Do your friends know you're dating?"

"No. We're not dating. We're friends." Star blushed.

"I see."

"His friends don't know we're friends either. We talked about it and the sheer amount of drama it would generate would be ridiculous. High school is almost over. We're going to the same college. It's not like we super go out of our way to hide it or anything."

"Do you want to be more than friends with him?" Her grandmother shooed her away from the stove as she took over opening a can of chicken noodle soup for her granddaughter.

Star blushed and quickly looked around the room but didn't see Danny anywhere. She knew that was meaningless though. It was later in the day though maybe Danny had left so her grandmother could take care of her. She worried her lip before answering. "Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"Danny's…" Star closed her eyes imagining Danny standing in front of her. His crooked little boy smile. "He's really sweet." His roguish fangfilled smirk. "And kind of sexy." Him leaning back on her bed in nothing but a towel as she stitched up his tummy. Looking up from her position between his legs to take in the whole long muscular length of him. "Okay really sexy." Sitting close as he talked to her about the stars not just their myths but their sciences too. "And really smart." She drifted off wondering not for the first time what'd be like to kiss him.

"Sounds like you more than kind of like him."

"Yeah." Star said wishfully

"So…are you going to tell him that?"

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"Good evening Venus."

"Good evening Danny."

Star blushed. She still didn't know if Danny had heard her the other night. School had been canceled the last few days and her grandmother had stayed with her until she'd gone to bed. Now Danny had phased through the wall bloody and smiling at her with a broken tooth.

She bandaged and stitched and updated her chart for him. She'd email it to Vlad later. While she'd still not met the other halfa they emailed regularly about Danny's health.

Danny sat backwards and shirtless on one of her kitchen chairs watching her quietly as the lacerations on his back healed. Every few minutes his tongue would flick out as he licked the tooth that was slowly being pushed out and replaced with a new one. There was an awkwardness there she was sure was all on her side until he spook. "You're really sweet, and really beautiful, inside and out, and really smart and really sexy." He paused as she looked at him with wide eyes. "And I more than kind of like you too."

She felt her breathing pick up and her heart beat faster but she acknowledged these things distantly as she put the file down on her desk and stepped toward him.

Danny stood up and phased through the chair as he approached her.

They met in the middle as Danny held her eyes with his and when he leaned down she stood on tiptoes to meet him in their first sweet kiss.

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